Support for bowling alley pit cushion



Sept- 26, 1961 K. c. SHERMAN 3,001,792

SUPPORT FOR BOWLING ALLEY PIT CUSHION Original Filed Aug. 2, 1955 466 /29 4&3 46/ 1' T 1; f462 L Q, /4 F L- 1 9: Z 1/ /0 W 20 1 466 4 v 44 I x22 460 I I /5; lI if. ll

1 '1 1 /12 l i -1 1 I l J INVEN TOR.

KENNETH C. SHERMAN ATTORNEYS United States Patent of MassachusettsOriginal application Aug. 2, 1955, Ser. No. 526,033, now 12, 1960.Divided Patent No. 2,920,891, dated Jan. and this application Jan. 7,1960, Ser. No. 971

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-53) This application is a division of my copendingapplication Serial No. 526,033, filed August 2, 1955 for Bowling PinSetting Machine, and now Patent No. 2,920,891. The invention relates toan improved means for supporting the customary cushion at the rear endof the alley pit which is employed to absorb the impact of swiftlythrown balls and pins knocked thereby to the rear of the pit, thecushion serving to prevent or minimize injury to the wall at the rear ofthe pit and to the balls and pins themselves.

The drawing shows a side elevation of the pit portion of a bowlingalley, part of the side wall being broken away to show the cushion atits means of support.

As indicated on the drawing, the side wall or kickback hides the pitfloor 12 which is at a lower level than the alley surface 13. Asdescribed and illustrated in said application Serial No. 526,033, ballsand pins which fall into the pit are conveyed to the rear end thereofand delivered to an elevator 14 which raises them to distributingmechanism (not shown herein) by which the balls are returned to theforward end of the alley, and the pins are grouped for resetting on thealley.

At the rear of the pit, but forward of the elevator 14 is hung thecustomary vertical cushion 460 which may be of any desired construction.According to the invention, the cushion is suspended from a couple ofrollers 461 which are mounted to run on rails 462 at "ice or near theupper edge of the kick-backs 10. The cushion is held in place by links'463 which extend forward from the shaft which carries the rollers 461,the forward ends of the links 463 being secured as by bolts 20 to therespective rails 462. Thus when it becomes necessary or desirable to getat the back wall of the pit or any of the mechanism adjacent to it, itis merely necessary to remove the two bolts 20 whereupon the cushion(which is usually bulky and'heavy) can readily be rolled forward on therails 462 to provide ample room behind it for a service man. Thisarrangement is especially important where the rear wall of the pit is ator near a wall 22 of the building in which the alley is housed.

A canvasv shield 464 extends from a rod 466 mounted at the upper edge ofthe cushion 460 forward to a trans verse rod 468 attached to a pair ofmembers 128 of the main frame which supports the pin-setting machine.The purpose of this shield is to prevent r-icocheting pins or balls fromflying up and injuring the pin handling mechanism above the pit.

I claim:

In a bowling alley having a pit with a kick-back on each side thereof, acushion extending transversely of said pit, means for supporting saidcushion vertically, said means comprising a rail on each said kick-back,a roller on each said rail, means attaching said cushion to saidrollers, and releasable means for holding said rollers from movementalong said rails, said releasable means comprising two links extendingfrom said supporting means and secured at points on the rails spacedfrom the respective rollers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,035,659 Talbert Aug. 13, 1912 2,372,572 Hensley Mar. 27, 19452,729,449 Montooth Jan. 3, 1956

